Sailing is Alive and Thriving on the North End Lake in Gqeberha MyZA

The North End Lake in the shadow of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium holds a special place in the heart of Radio Control Yacht Racers country wide. In the late 1990’s Radio Controlled sailing was very active and Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) hosted many a regional and memorable National Championships – with some reminding us at every turn that Gqeberha hosted the best National Championships ever.

That proud tradition has continued – see further down for comments.

The period leading up to 2020 saw less radio sailing activity until the introduction of the DragonFlite 95 Class Sailing Yacht. This affordable, quick and fast growing class has witnessed a resurgence of interest in radio controlled sailing with the PERBC making the Powerboat Club on the North End Lake their home waters.

PERBC recently hosted the third DF95 Radio Control Yacht National Sailing Championships. The regatta saw 31 sailors from all over the country descend on Gqeberha from 8 to 11 September 20222.

Clubs represented were: PERBC – 10 Sailors; CRYC – 6 Sailors; GRRSC – 4 Sailors; NRSC – 3 Sailors; DRBC – 2 Sailors; ZLYC – 2 Sailors; HMYC – 1 Sailor; HSC – 1 Sailor; MRYC – 1 Sailor; VLC – 1 Sailor

Sailed over three days (9 – 11 September) Gqeberha offered up varied conditions to test the sailors who sailed a total of 18 races each – 11 in the heats and 7 in the final gold and silver fleets. Three discards kicked in at Race 4, 8 and 16.

Conditions were varied with wind strengths ranging from 4 knots to 25 knot gusts from the East, South and West with the Nelson Mandela Bay wind shadow making for some challenging decisions to be made.

After Race 11 and into the finals, Cape Town Sailor Roy Gardener showed his dominance of the fleet with a 1st, 7th, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd and 4th which, combined with his 5 firsts, 5 seconds and 1 fifth in the qualifying rounds left him with 27 points – well clear of second place sailor, Des Fairbanks on 40 points.

Top Three Sailors:

Roy Gardener: CRYC – 27 points
Des Fairbank: MRYC – 40 points
John Jorgensen: HMYC – 46 Points

All courses sailed were windward leeward with an offset mark at the windward mark and a gate at the bottom.

All sailors commented very favourably on the race, conditions and organising committee under the stewardship of PERBC Commodore Andrew Bosworth and his hard working committee. One well travelled sailor commented that the regatta was probably better organised and run than many World Championship events that he had attended.

Sponsors of the event were: Engeli Supply Chain Solutions, Alphapharm, Build It Sunridge Park and Summerstrand Pharmacy.

Some comments after the regatta:

“Thanks Andrew and Team for a very well run and pleasant event – much appreciated” ~ Bruce
“Thanks for a wonderful regatta, will be back for sure!”
“Thanks Siverado and team for a brilliant regatta” ~ Barry
“Well sailed Roy. A great regatta in difficult conditions. Thanks to the organisers.” ~ Des

The df95 2022 National Sailing Championships REPORT, MORE IMAGES and RESULTS can be found HERE.

Statistics: